The backers of two big Asian Pacific
online travel booking websites have pumped 500m KRW ($430,000) intoAllstay.kr, a mobile-focused accommodation
metasearch site based in South Korea.

Allstay will use the funding to work on
ways to integrate offline travel agency content as well as private
accommodations into the metasearch alongside content from OTAs such as
Booking.com, Agoda, and Hotels.com.

The statement confirming the deal noted
that South Korea “is one of the most advanced nations in terms of mobile
penetration but does not have a dominant mobile-based metasearch business”.

The maturity of the smartphone market in
South Korea is evidenced by the latest Google Consumer Barometer. The dedicated South Korea page is full of graphs and charts which
shows how advanced the market is.

For example, 94%
of the sample have had access to a smartphone for more than 12 months while 51%
use mobile for price comparison.